Thursday, 31 May 2012

A new comedy called "Partners" is starting on CBS this fall. Written by the people behind "Will & Grace" and featuring two architects as main characters, nice interior sets and some funny jokes, it all looks very promising! Let's hope for a lot of archihumour (and to be honest, I don't mind all the gay culture references, either). Oh, and by the way, it appears that Michael Urie is actually playing the role of... me.

Monday, 28 May 2012

One of the great things about living in the city: If someone is throwing a concert or festival in your backyard, you don't have to pay for the tickets, you just climb out on the roof and watch it from there. Picture taken by Jette Christensen at Nattjazz ("Night Jazz") in Bergen, Norway.

Friday, 25 May 2012

I was hanging around Sandvika (Yes, I know) the other day, when I stumbled upon this beautiful brigde, spanning and being reflected by the Sandvika river. I googled around a bit after taking the picture, and it turns out this is Norway's oldest cast-iron bridge, designed and built by Count Herman Wedel Jarlsberg in 1829. It spans 22,5 meters, is 5 meters wide and is only used for pedestrian traffic.

Already partly hidden by greenery, the bridge now looks pastoral and cute, but I imagine that it must have looked very fresh and modern in its time. I like the circle-shaped holes in the sides, which, I suppose, are there to take some weight off it. While cast-iron is a great material, often providing a handmade look and a finely textured surface, it's also very heavy.

I also found out that I'm not the only one who's been inspired by this subject. In the winter of 1895, one of my favourite painters, Claude Monet, spent some time in Sandvika, and among his paintings from the time you'll find this one, depicting Løkke bridge in it's original location further down the river. You can find versions of it both in the Norwegian National Gallery and at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Tuesday, 15 May 2012

Yesterday I found this really cool time-lapse video of the map of Europe and the different countries that have existed there since the year 1000 up until present day. It's very fascinating to see how many countries have at one point been large and important and then and then vanished, how the other ones have grown and shrunk or even completely moved from one place to another.

It seems to me that architectural variations are mostly regional, not national, and I guess this map illustrates how nationalism in architecture (and politics, for that matter) is a slightly absurd exercise. In Norway, a country with an enormous coast and most of its population living less than two hours away from the sea, national romanticism in architecture deemed coastal vernacular traditions in building to be much too influenced by foreigners, and emphasised interpretations of inland architecture and building from the great valleys. Very strange. It's not that I don't find a lot of this romanticist architecture to be beautiful, with its crisp detailing and great craftmanship, but I still think it could have been even richer and better if it included more regional traditions. I don't know how this would work in other countries, but I suppose it's similar.

Friday, 11 May 2012

This is Soutra Aisle, the remains of an medieval hospital and church in Scotland.

Does anyone know anything about this roof construction? Maybe it's vaulted, and was covered by a wooden or thatched roof? Or was it covered in stone, like many other Scottish roofs? Looks weird, but interesting.